What is the best alternative to ecobee3?
Pro Amazing design
The Nest thermostat looks like a piece of tech from the future. It's fully circular and certainly looks the part of a smart thermostat. The display takes up the majority of the unit, and makes good use of its LCD display when not in use. It can display an analog or digital clock instead of the...
Pro Learns your preferences and adjusts accordingly
Nest begins learning as soon as you install it. In a short time, it will automatically be adjusting your temperature based on time of day, or how active the house is. For the first few weeks you may need to adjust the Nest a few degrees when required, but eventually it will learn when you adjust it...
Pro Easy installation
The Nest Thermostat is the easiest smart thermostat to install. It comes with the required mini screwdriver, and there's a level built-in to make sure the Nest is installed properly. The included baseplate helps cover up any imperfections left from removing your previous thermostat. Installati...
Con Doesn't provide room-by-room sensing
The Nest Thermostat doesn't have any other hardware that integrates into it. That means that it only senses temperature from a single point, which means that there can be cool/hot spots in other rooms where the temperature isn't being taken.
Con Hardware control is through a rotating ring
On the Nest itself, the homeowner rotates the ring on the edge of the Nest as the primary way to interact with it. Most controls will need to be done through the app.
Con Long wait times for support
If you run into issues, calling tech support can sometimes lead to long wait times.
Pro Automatically works to reduce power usage
Instead of continuously heating and cooling, this thermostat can use a fan mode instead of full cooling to help preserve power while still providing adequate comfort.
Pro Notification support keeps you in the know
If there was an extreme temperature change, Honeywell lets you know. It can also notify you when it's time to change your air filter. Notifications like these are a nice addition, as it keeps you in the loop about what's going on with your house.
Pro Configurable schedule to suit your needs
You can schedule the settings for every day of the week through the dashboard. You can also edit your settings at any time.
Con The user interface appears cluttered
While the UI is very functional, it appears cluttered as it tries to display a bunch of information all on the same display. On the main screen, there are 4 tabs on top, two buttons to adjust the setpoint, and it displays the current indoor temperature as well. On the left it displays current infor...
Con Installation can be difficult
The tools you require aren't included, and depending on your HVAC system the installation can be tricky if you try to do it yourself.
Con Doesn't learn as much
While this smart temperature can learn, it doesn't learn as much as other smart thermostats. It relies more on programming.
Pro Cross platform support for all major operating systems
There is an Android app, an iOS app, and even a Windows Phone app. There is also a web app that lets you control the thermostat from any web browser. This is a thermostat that you won't need to worry about compatibility with.
Pro Very configurable scheduling
You can configure the Tado thermostat to have one setpoint during the day while you're away at work or sleeping, and another setpoint when you are at home requiring heating.
Pro Great UI
The UI is similar across the different apps and webpage, which makes it easy to use any other UI if you're familiar with one. It's also laid out very nicely, and provides weather reminders as well.
Con Installation is very tough
Tado suggests you get the wiring done professionally. While it's convenient that there is a conversation between you and Tado to figure things out ahead of time - making sure the installation itself goes well - it's inconvenient that you need to have it set up professionally when the other...
Con Limited controls through the thermostat itself
The thermostat is minimal, and it lacks the functionality of normal thermostats if you want to control it through the physical wall mounted unit. Just about all of the controls will need to be done through the app.
Con Requires a hub to be plugged into your router
You will need to use the hub, which is another piece of equipment in your house. It also needs to be plugged directly into the router which means one less available port on the router. The requirement of the hub means that the range is limited, which could mean that the thermostat has connection i...
Pro Learns, and can adjust to weather as well as your home
After a couple weeks of learning, you can switch to a PID (proportional integral derivative) control. This uses predictive and learned behavior to provide the best heating experience possible. PID control looks at weather conditions, and adjusts its cycling to compensate for it. For example, if a...
Pro Energy tracking built-in
You will be able to view energy reports from the daily, weekly, monthly or yearly view. This can help you save up to 37% on your power bill (and help pay off the thermostat itself) by recognizing high power times and adjusting the temperature to save power during those times.
Pro Works with Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and has a web app
No matter if your family is divided across mobile platforms, everybody can still control the Netatmo Thermostat. There is also a web app, so it can be controlled using a computer or on other phones and tablets by logging in to the web app.
Con Hardware feels basic
While other smart thermostats let you use the thermostat itself for virtually any adjustments, the Netatmo Thermostat only displays the setpoint temperature (in bold black) and the current temperature (outlined). The display is E-ink, which doesn't look as good as good as LCDs and can't di...
Con Limited controls on the thermostat itself
On the thermostat itself, you can only change the temperature. All other controls must be implemented from the app on your phone, through Siri, or through the web app.
Pro Room-by-room control, scheduling, and heating
Because each Eve Thermo is assigned to a single room, it can accomplish a steadier temperature than a single central thermostat. You can assign each room to a different schedule, for example your bedroom heater can be turned off during the day while the rest of your house receives the heat instead.
Pro Small, sleek looking hardware
The Eve Thermo is physically small, and plugs into your heaters which are usually hidden out of sight. This allows it to discreetly add smart heating to your house without creating an eye-sore on a prominent wall. If the device is in a location where it will be seen however, it looks very sleek wi...
Con Not a whole-house unit
The Eve Thermo only connects to a single heating element. That means that for your entire house to be heated this way, you'd need one Thermo for every room in your house - at which point it would be much more cost-effective to get a single smart thermostat. The Eve Thermo is better suited as a...
Con Powered by disposable AA batteries
The battery life is expected to be about 8 months, which is pretty good. However, you will need to replace the batteries from time to time which also adds to the overall cost of this product.
Pro Can turn on/off automatically based on your location
The Lyric can turn on and off based on your location (or, more specifically, your phone's location). By default, this geo-fence is 7 miles, giving the thermostat enough time to get the back to a comfortable temperature. This can be changed, all the way down to 500 feet if you have a short commu...
Pro Futuristic design
It has a clean white front, with basic controls and large fonts. All the edges are trimmed with a stylish black, and the device produces an attractive glow behind it which helps make it stand out.
Pro Easy installation
The Lyric app provides step by step instructions, starting from removing your old thermostat all the way through until the end. There is just 1 small typo - the app says you don't need to connect the power wire (Rh) when indeed you do.
Con Not compatible with all routers
Your router needs to have DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) otherwise this thermostat won't connect to your network.
Con Specific (more expensive) battery requirements
In order to provide longer battery life, the Lyric requires a AAA lithium battery - regular AAA batteries won't provide sufficient juice.
Con Buggy
The geo-fence feature can sometimes set the thermostat to 'away' while you're still in the house. Notifications also don't always make it through, as sometimes all you get are generic looking error messages. These bugs are likely to be fixed through future software updates, howev...
Pro Programmable from the thermostat itself
All of the functions of your phone can also be done right on the thermostat. If you frequently switch phones, or just prefer hardware controls this is a significant perk.
Pro Design is conservative, and looks like a regular thermostat
While most smart thermostats go the full mile when it comes to futuristic design, this Sensi thermostat takes a more traditional approach. Just by looking at it, you wouldn't be able to tell that this is a smart thermostat.
Con No automation
This thermostat doesn't offer any smart learning or automation. While it does allow you to program a schedule into it and adjust the temperature remotely, that's just about the extent of its smarts. It doesn't offer motion sensors or track your location in any way.
Con Old fashioned looking
Most smart thermostats look the part - they look smart. This one looks just like any regular old thermostat, including the clunky buttons, large physical body and monochrome display.
Pro Affordable price for a basic HomeKit thermostat.
This thermostat is priced about $100 cheaper than any other option that currently integrates with HomeKit. For users who don't want/wouldn't use any fancy features but just want great Siri integration, this thermostat will suffice and at a more wallet-friendly price.
Pro More features in the works
While this thermostat is very feature-light at the moment, Bluetooth hardware is present which will allow for more features in the future. Geo-fencing and pattern recognition software are two features currently in development, however the other thermostats already offer these features and more.
Con Multiple touches required for simple actions
Because the screen is so small and pixelated, very little can be displayed on the screen at one time. This forces the menus to be longer, which requires more button presses to scroll down and then select the action, and then finally adjust it. It would also be helpful if text was used instead of ju...
Con Lacks any standout features
As of right now (future updates could change this), the iDevices thermostat doesn't provide any compelling reason to choose it over any other HomeKit thermostat. It doesn't add any features of its own - instead it only has features provided by HomeKit itself which are present on many other...
Con Installation is harder than it should be
Wiring the iDevices Thermostat requires a small precision screw driver (not included), and unlike many other smart thermostats it doesn't automatically detect which HVAC system you have (you will need to look that up, whether it's gas or electric fired, and potentially what kind of pumps a...
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